桑福德——随着高中毕业的临近, 安珀·英格兰知道她想做什么, 但这似乎遥不可及. 在李县高中的课堂上, 安布尔发现她非常喜欢通过艺术来表达自己, 尽管在当时，这似乎不是一个特别可行的职业选择.

Then she started watching closely the video games she was playing and focused her attention on the background images that set the scene and framed the action. She kept looking and thinking until a moment of insight: There were jobs behind the video games she was playing. "I found out I can get a degree and a professional job as an illustrator or designer of some kind,她说, 然后我想成为电子游戏的概念美工."

这似乎是命中注定. 然后，现实来了. With money so tight in her family of three children, Amber knew college might never be an option. She hoped to find enough scholarship money to enroll somewhere and make her dream come true, but it seemed more likely that she'd end up working in whatever job she could find or maybe joining her brother in the military.

就在那时安珀听说了李县承诺, a local initiative supported through county and private funding that guarantees up to two years of free in-state college tuition to public school graduates who meet eligibility standards.

李县承诺给了她全家希望. 玛丽亚英格兰, 琥珀色的母亲, described life as a former-military family and how they managed to get one child into community college with her husband's GI Bill and another into the U.S. 空军. How they could finance a four-year degree for their third child, that didn't seem as easy.

“我们成功了，”玛丽亚说. “我丈夫退休了，是一名卡车司机. 我是全职工作. 但我们赚了多少钱还不能说, “去读四年制大学，我们就能负担得起, 奖学金与否.'"

Amber being able to live at home and complete her first two years tuition-free has changed everything. “整个经济负担都没有了，”这位母亲说. “这对我们来说绝对是一种解脱."

对学生的承诺

About 75 public high school graduates in Lee County qualified for 李郡承诺 in its first year and most began their fall semester by attending a short information session with 推荐正规买球平台 President Dr. T. 欢迎第一批奖学金获得者的Eston Marchant. “我们为你感到骄傲，”他在8月的那个早晨说. “这让我很惊讶, 当我迎接你进来的时候, 各种各样的专业和你想要做的事情. 我们是来帮你的."

Students in front of him were all Lee County residents who graduated from a public high school, 这是李县承诺的一个条件, and were guaranteed up to two years of free in-state tuition and required fees at 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院. 教科书和附加费不属于经济援助计划的一部分, 而是由学生自己支付.

要获得资格，学生必须满足一些额外的标准. 他们必须全职参加推荐正规买球平台, degree-seeking curriculum student beginning the fall semester immediately following high school graduation. They also must have successfully completed at least four high school courses -- 12 credit hours to be technical -- using Career and 大学 Promise, a popular initiative statewide that offers both high school and college credit for a portfolio of tuition-free college courses taken while in high school.

每年, eligible students must complete the federal FAFSA forms required by most colleges and universities to qualify for financial aid and a 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 基金会 scholarship application. 在计算经济援助计划时, 他们从所有的补助金开始, 奖学金和外部资助的学生有资格获得, 然后李县承诺支付他们的学费和所需费用的余额.

Being able to complete his first two years of college and earn an associate degree without having to borrow a dime is what grabbed the attention of Joshua Harris.

The 18-year-old student-athlete enrolled in 推荐正规买球平台 this fall to pursue an associate degree in health and fitness science, hoping to transfer to East Carolina University or the University of North Carolina Wilmington for an eventual master's degree in athletic training.

他最初的计划是直接去两所四年制大学中的一所, 但他改变了主意，再也没有申请过. 他想在离家近一点的地方待一段时间, 约书亚说, 而且他也不确定自己怎样才能付得起钱. 如果没有李郡承诺，他还能上大学吗? “这很难说，”他说. “我都不知道我还能不能上大学."

现在, 他不只是上课, but enriching campus life for everyone as a member of the Cougar men's basketball team. Head coach Bradley McDougald has a lot of good things to say about Joshua's defense -- his willingness to sacrifice his body for loose balls and take a charge for the team. What impresses him most, though, is the attitude that his young student-athlete brings to campus. "He works really hard in practice everyday and I never have to ask for effort from him,麦克杜格尔德说. “他是一个非常健壮的孩子，有弹性，有很多热情. 我期待着看到他成长为一名球员."

“双赢”已经成为陈词滥调, 但有些事情对每个人都有好处，这是有道理的, 和肯·霍伊尔, 推荐正规买球平台学生服务副总裁, 相信李县承诺就是其中之一.

“很明显, it benefits high school students who want to continue their education at 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 and earn an associate degree without going into debt,霍伊尔说. 但它的作用远不止于此. 它给学校带来了更多的积极性, 优秀的学生进入校园，对我们整个社区都有帮助.

"This creates a better educated community and shows the world how serious we are about education, 哪个是我们经济发展的关键. 真的，这样做是为了创造一个更美好的未来."

未来的承诺

当奖学金获得者谈论李县承诺时, 很多讨论都围绕着金钱和经济援助展开, 这是有道理的. The whole idea is to provide the financial aid needed for students to continue their education. But what may get lost in the discussion of dollars and cents is that finding money for college is really about seizing the future -- whether or not some talented, 年轻的学生可以永远追求他们的希望和梦想.

When Amber and her mother finally had a moment early in her first semester of college to discuss 李郡承诺 for this story, they actually did it passing a cell phone back and forth while sitting in a parking lot at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. They had just arrived to attend an afternoon tour and information session for prospective transfer students at the UNCG 大学 of Visual and Performing 艺术.

李县承诺计划刚实施几个月, scores of students are already moving forward in their lives because of the innovative, 当地的奖学金项目，并开始显示出对未来的巨大希望.